PARTICIPANTS VALUES AND INCENTIVE PLANS

Incentive plans are designed to motivate participants to pursue what i s valued by an organization. This article discusses how values may inf luence the design of incentive plans and the success of their implemen tation. In situations where the incentive plan fits participants' valu es, the authors predict a process of manual reinforcement. When values and incentives collide, they propose two possible yet conflicting out comes: the ''carrot effect'' and the ''snubbed carrot effect.'' They c onclude by addressing the implications of fit and misfit for research and practice. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.